Titanic Quiz
The ship, the iceberg, the lifeboats, the rescue and the film: 15 questions on the most famous shipwreck ever.
In which year did the Titanic sink on her maiden voyage?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
1912
The Titanic struck an iceberg late on 14 April 1912 and sank in the early hours of 15 April, about four days into her first crossing from Southampton to New York.
Her sinking led to the first International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea in 1914, which required lifeboat space for everyone aboard.
Who directed the 1997 film Titanic?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
James Cameron
James Cameron wrote, directed and co-produced Titanic, which became the first film to gross over a billion dollars worldwide and won 11 Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director.
Cameron made 12 dives to the real wreck in Russian submersibles before filming, and the footage of the actual ship appears in the movie.
From which English port did the Titanic set sail on 10 April 1912?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Southampton
The Titanic left Southampton at noon on 10 April 1912, narrowly avoiding a collision with the liner New York as suction from her propellers pulled the smaller ship from its moorings.
Liverpool was painted on her stern as her port of registry, but the ship never actually visited the city.
Which shipping company owned and operated the Titanic?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
White Star Line
The Titanic belonged to the White Star Line, a British company controlled by the American financier J. P. Morgan, and was built to compete with Cunard's faster liners Lusitania and Mauretania.
White Star eventually merged with its old rival Cunard in 1934 after both companies were weakened by the Great Depression.
How many Academy Awards did the 1997 film Titanic win?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
11
Titanic won 11 of its 14 nominations at the 1998 ceremony, matching the record set by Ben-Hur in 1960 and later equalled by The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
Neither Leonardo DiCaprio nor Kate Winslet won that night, and DiCaprio was not even nominated for Best Actor.
Who was the captain of the Titanic on her maiden voyage?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Edward Smith
Captain Edward John Smith, the White Star Line's most senior commander, was in charge of the Titanic and went down with his ship; his body was never recovered.
Smith was reportedly planning to retire after the voyage, which made the Titanic's maiden crossing his final command.
In which city was the Titanic built by the shipyard Harland and Wolff?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Belfast
Harland and Wolff built the Titanic and her sister Olympic side by side at its Queen's Island yard in Belfast, employing some 15,000 workers, and launched the Titanic on 31 May 1911.
The Titanic Belfast museum opened on the site of the slipways in 2012, exactly 100 years after the sinking.
Which ship raced through the night to rescue the Titanic's survivors from their lifeboats?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Carpathia
The Cunard liner Carpathia, under Captain Arthur Rostron, steamed about 58 miles (93 km) through ice to reach the scene around 4 am and picked up all 710 survivors before carrying them to New York.
The Carpathia was herself torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat off the coast of Ireland in July 1918, during the First World War.
Roughly how many people died when the Titanic sank?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
1,500
About 1,500 of the roughly 2,200 passengers and crew aboard died, most of them from hypothermia in the freezing water, while 710 survived in the lifeboats.
More than half of the first class passengers survived, compared with roughly a quarter of those travelling in third class.
On which date in 1912 did the Titanic strike the iceberg?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
14 April
The lookouts sighted the iceberg at 11:40 pm ship's time on 14 April 1912, and the collision opened the first five of her watertight compartments to the sea; she sank at 2:20 am on 15 April.
The Titanic had received at least six ice warnings by wireless that day, but she was still steaming at close to full speed.
Which oceanographer led the expedition that located the wreck of the Titanic in September 1985?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Robert Ballard
Robert Ballard of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, working with Jean-Louis Michel of the French agency IFREMER, found the wreck on 1 September 1985 using the towed camera sled Argo.
The search was partly a cover for a secret US Navy mission to survey two sunken nuclear submarines, Thresher and Scorpion.
Which ship was the Titanic's older sister, the first of White Star's three giant new liners?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Olympic
The Olympic was launched in October 1910 and entered service in 1911, several months before the Titanic, and remained in service until 1935, earning the nickname Old Reliable.
The third sister, Britannic, never carried a paying passenger: she was requisitioned as a hospital ship and sank after hitting a mine in 1916.
How many lifeboats did the Titanic carry?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
20
The Titanic carried 20 lifeboats: 14 standard wooden boats, two emergency cutters and four collapsibles, with total room for 1,178 people, barely half of those on board.
The number actually exceeded the outdated British regulations, which based lifeboat requirements on a ship's tonnage rather than the number of passengers.
What was the Titanic's final port of call before she headed out into the Atlantic?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Queenstown, Ireland
After leaving Southampton the Titanic called at Cherbourg in France and then at Queenstown on the south coast of Ireland on 11 April, where she took on more passengers and mail before heading west.
Queenstown was renamed Cobh in 1920, so the town that saw the Titanic off still exists under a different name.
Which nearby ship was later criticised for failing to respond to the Titanic's distress rockets?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Californian
The Leyland liner Californian had stopped for the night in the ice field within sight of the Titanic, but her wireless operator had gone to bed and her officers did not act on the rockets they saw.
Both the British and American inquiries condemned Captain Stanley Lord, though his defenders argued for decades that his ship was further away than claimed.
Your results
More to explore
All History quizzes →About the Titanic Quiz
She was the largest ship afloat, she carried only 20 lifeboats for more than 2,200 people, and she sank on her maiden voyage two hours and forty minutes after striking an iceberg. More than a century later the Titanic still fascinates, helped along by a 1997 film that became the first ever to earn a billion dollars.
These 15 questions cover the ship's building in Belfast, her ports of call, the night of 14 April 1912, the rescue by the Carpathia, the discovery of the wreck in 1985 and a little about James Cameron's blockbuster. It suits anyone who has watched a Titanic documentary and wondered how much they remember, with a few deeper cuts for true enthusiasts.
You will find 15 multiple choice questions here, each with four options. Difficulty: Medium. Most people finish in about 6 minutes, and every answer comes with a short explanation and one extra fact worth keeping.
How to play
Read the question and pick one of the four answers. The correct answer is revealed straight away with a short explanation, then press Next question to keep going. At the end you get your score out of 15 and a full review of your round. Play again any time and the questions arrive in a fresh order. There is no timer and no account.
Good to know before you play
Is the Titanic Quiz about the ship or the movie?
Mostly the real ship and the 1912 sinking. Two of the 15 questions touch on the 1997 film, so you do not need to have seen it to score well.
How many people died on the Titanic?
About 1,500 of the roughly 2,200 people aboard died. Only 710 survived, nearly all of them picked up by the Carpathia on the morning of 15 April 1912.
How difficult is the Titanic Quiz?
Medium. The early questions are familiar to most people, and the last three on lifeboats, ports of call and the ship that failed to respond will test real Titanic buffs.
Answer key: all 15 questions with explanations
- In which year did the Titanic sink on her maiden voyage?
1912 The Titanic struck an iceberg late on 14 April 1912 and sank in the early hours of 15 April, about four days into her first crossing from Southampton to New York. Her sinking led to the first International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea in 1914, which required lifeboat space for everyone aboard. - Who directed the 1997 film Titanic?
James Cameron James Cameron wrote, directed and co-produced Titanic, which became the first film to gross over a billion dollars worldwide and won 11 Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director. Cameron made 12 dives to the real wreck in Russian submersibles before filming, and the footage of the actual ship appears in the movie. - From which English port did the Titanic set sail on 10 April 1912?
Southampton The Titanic left Southampton at noon on 10 April 1912, narrowly avoiding a collision with the liner New York as suction from her propellers pulled the smaller ship from its moorings. Liverpool was painted on her stern as her port of registry, but the ship never actually visited the city. - Which shipping company owned and operated the Titanic?
White Star Line The Titanic belonged to the White Star Line, a British company controlled by the American financier J. P. Morgan, and was built to compete with Cunard's faster liners Lusitania and Mauretania. White Star eventually merged with its old rival Cunard in 1934 after both companies were weakened by the Great Depression. - How many Academy Awards did the 1997 film Titanic win?
11 Titanic won 11 of its 14 nominations at the 1998 ceremony, matching the record set by Ben-Hur in 1960 and later equalled by The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Neither Leonardo DiCaprio nor Kate Winslet won that night, and DiCaprio was not even nominated for Best Actor. - Who was the captain of the Titanic on her maiden voyage?
Edward Smith Captain Edward John Smith, the White Star Line's most senior commander, was in charge of the Titanic and went down with his ship; his body was never recovered. Smith was reportedly planning to retire after the voyage, which made the Titanic's maiden crossing his final command. - In which city was the Titanic built by the shipyard Harland and Wolff?
Belfast Harland and Wolff built the Titanic and her sister Olympic side by side at its Queen's Island yard in Belfast, employing some 15,000 workers, and launched the Titanic on 31 May 1911. The Titanic Belfast museum opened on the site of the slipways in 2012, exactly 100 years after the sinking. - Which ship raced through the night to rescue the Titanic's survivors from their lifeboats?
Carpathia The Cunard liner Carpathia, under Captain Arthur Rostron, steamed about 58 miles (93 km) through ice to reach the scene around 4 am and picked up all 710 survivors before carrying them to New York. The Carpathia was herself torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat off the coast of Ireland in July 1918, during the First World War. - Roughly how many people died when the Titanic sank?
1,500 About 1,500 of the roughly 2,200 passengers and crew aboard died, most of them from hypothermia in the freezing water, while 710 survived in the lifeboats. More than half of the first class passengers survived, compared with roughly a quarter of those travelling in third class. - On which date in 1912 did the Titanic strike the iceberg?
14 April The lookouts sighted the iceberg at 11:40 pm ship's time on 14 April 1912, and the collision opened the first five of her watertight compartments to the sea; she sank at 2:20 am on 15 April. The Titanic had received at least six ice warnings by wireless that day, but she was still steaming at close to full speed. - Which oceanographer led the expedition that located the wreck of the Titanic in September 1985?
Robert Ballard Robert Ballard of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, working with Jean-Louis Michel of the French agency IFREMER, found the wreck on 1 September 1985 using the towed camera sled Argo. The search was partly a cover for a secret US Navy mission to survey two sunken nuclear submarines, Thresher and Scorpion. - Which ship was the Titanic's older sister, the first of White Star's three giant new liners?
Olympic The Olympic was launched in October 1910 and entered service in 1911, several months before the Titanic, and remained in service until 1935, earning the nickname Old Reliable. The third sister, Britannic, never carried a paying passenger: she was requisitioned as a hospital ship and sank after hitting a mine in 1916. - How many lifeboats did the Titanic carry?
20 The Titanic carried 20 lifeboats: 14 standard wooden boats, two emergency cutters and four collapsibles, with total room for 1,178 people, barely half of those on board. The number actually exceeded the outdated British regulations, which based lifeboat requirements on a ship's tonnage rather than the number of passengers. - What was the Titanic's final port of call before she headed out into the Atlantic?
Queenstown, Ireland After leaving Southampton the Titanic called at Cherbourg in France and then at Queenstown on the south coast of Ireland on 11 April, where she took on more passengers and mail before heading west. Queenstown was renamed Cobh in 1920, so the town that saw the Titanic off still exists under a different name. - Which nearby ship was later criticised for failing to respond to the Titanic's distress rockets?
Californian The Leyland liner Californian had stopped for the night in the ice field within sight of the Titanic, but her wireless operator had gone to bed and her officers did not act on the rockets they saw. Both the British and American inquiries condemned Captain Stanley Lord, though his defenders argued for decades that his ship was further away than claimed.
Browse other categories
Every category has its own quizzes, each with instant explanations.